Everyone's life is only once, or heavier than Tarzan, or lighter than Hong Mao.
In 1934, during the Long March of the Red Army, a Shanxi salt smuggler risked saving 3,000 Red Army soldiers, and after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the military commander looked for him 6 times in the province, but he was already lying in the cemetery next to the Lu County Party School, becoming a cloth hero respected by the world, he was Chen Tingxian.
His greatest wish in life was to become a true Communist Party member, but in the end, he was left with only the great achievements engraved on the inscription. The only thing that can comfort the dead is the shining red five-star on the tombstone.
Chen Tingxian, an ordinary salt smuggler
On a cold winter morning in 1911, when the wind was blowing particularly harshly, in a small, inconspicuous mountain village in the distant County of Zezhou, Shanxi, the little boy fell to the ground and took the name Chen Tingxian. As soon as he was born, he was greeted by a war of gunfire and the poverty of the family.
Chen Tingxian has been a peasant boy with a mouthful of millet and a taste of dialect since childhood, and his parents died and became orphans at a young age, and only his younger siblings were dependent on each other.
When he was 12 years old, his two younger sisters froze to death. He was so grief-stricken that in order to let his brother have enough to eat, he made a cruel decision to send his brother to a large family as a stepson.
With a weak body, he faced the dark old society alone and strongly, left his hometown with tears in his eyes, and went to Yuncheng, Shanxi Province, to work as a child laborer digging salt mine.
He worked as a salt merchant for a period of time, and after accumulating, he single-handedly picked up a heavy burden to run goods, became a small cargo man, sold pastries everywhere, and almost walked all over the Yellow River.
After years of persistence and hard work, he finally established himself in Lushi County and started his own small business. At that time, it was not easy to find a bowl of rice.
Chen Tingxian hollowed out his brain, avoiding all kinds of inhuman and harsh taxes, and could only shuttle through remote and dangerous mountain paths. That little bit of hard-earned money in exchange for life is the only hope for supporting the family.
Bravely saved 3,000 Communist fighters
In early December 1934, in order to complete the strategic principle of "going straight to the border of Henan and Shaanxi and opening up a new revolutionary base area", the Red 25th Army led 3,000 soldiers to march west and move to the destination of Henan and Shaanxi.
However, just halfway through their strategic shift, Chiang Kai-shek personally arrived in Wuchang to supervise the battle, ordered tens of thousands of enemy troops to intercept and attack our 25th Army, and took the first step to seize two important places for our army, namely Zhuyang Pass and Wulichuan.
Faced with the mighty Yellow River, which had no way to go, Cheng Zihua, commander of the Red 25th Army, Xu Haidong, deputy commander of the Red 25 Army, and Wu Huanxian, political commissar of the army, withstood the tremendous pressure of life and vowed to take our army out of the heavy encirclement and break out of a bright and bloody river.
Many fighters have been pushed to the brink of despair and collapse by the extremely harsh war environment, silently preparing to die with the enemy.
The wounded soldiers, worried that they were dragging down the large troops, jointly wrote a blood letter to the leaders of the troops, resolutely demanding that they participate in the war, and that the wounded and sick cover the escape of the large troops, and that they would not hesitate to pay their lives for the victory of all the officers and men.
Seeing that a desperate struggle was about to unfold, the leaders of our army were also anxious like ants on a hot pot, and did not dare to relax for a second. After intense discussion and careful planning, our army decided to risk death and take a small road to play a set of strategies with the enemy to escape from danger.
Military commander Cheng Zihua urgently needed to find a guide who was familiar with the path and could lead everyone out of the palm of the enemy's hand. But the local people did not understand this, in their eyes, everyone who killed people with guns was a warlord bully.
As soon as they saw people from the troops coming, they hid one after another, and they didn't dare to see anyone at all. At this critical juncture, Chen Tingxian stepped forward and claimed that he was willing to lead the way for our army, and with his many years of experience in selling goods on small roads, he was competent for this important task.
Cheng Zihua heard about Chen Tingxian's past experience, because he had had the same suffering and experience, and the conversation was very speculative, chen Tingxian led a large army to set out for the mountains overnight.
Our army marched all the way, through the ghostly mountains and old forests, along the sheep intestine trail, around and around, to the southern Shaanxi border.
In order to thank Chen Tingxian for saving his life, the military commander Cheng Zihua specially gave him 10 pieces of ocean, but Chen Tingxian refused to accept it when he died, and finally had to write him a note, telling him to keep it well, and from then on he was identified as a member of the Communist Party.
After Chen Tingxian completed the escort task, he went back to his hometown in a roundabout way. Who knew that he had just returned and was arrested, tortured and abused by poisonous hands, he clenched his teeth, did not give a word, and was almost killed alive by the militia.
Chen Tingxian was afraid that the note would be discovered, and secretly hid it in the crack of the wall. Who knew that the wall had been burned down by the enemy, and he couldn't read, and he didn't know what was written on the note, and this matter became a secret in Chen Tingxian's heart.
It is a pity that he did not join the party for life, and after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the military commander looked for him 6 times in the province
In 1949, the great New China was born. Chen Tingxian found a job as a salesman in his hometown and actively applied to join the party, occasionally telling others about the thrilling process of saving 3,000 Red Army soldiers that year.
However, unexpectedly, no one believed his words, and everyone said that he lied and bragged, because at that time, the war was urgent, and Chen Tingjian did not know the number of the Red 25th Army and the name of the commander, but only remembered a "Cheng Chief".
His application to join the party was repeatedly rejected, and he was unable to become a true communist until the end of his life, when he still did not give up the idea of joining the party.
His last wish was for his family to bury him in the cemetery next to the Lu County Party School, with the tombstone facing the intersection where the Red Army came to Lu County. In Chen Tingxian's heart, he had always looked forward to seeing him again with the Red Army.
At this moment, Cheng Zihua, the commander of the Red 25th Army, has been appointed secretary of the Shanxi Provincial CPC Committee. At that time, when New China was carrying out an important period of comprehensive new construction, Cheng Zihua took advantage of every opportunity, but in his heart he never forgot the salt smugglers who saved the lives of 3,000 Red Army soldiers.
He sent people to find Chen Tingxian 6 times in Shanxi Province, because Chen Tingxian spoke with an accent at that time, Cheng Zihua heard the wrong pronunciation of Chen Tingxian's name, so that he searched many times and could not find this person.
Subsequently, the search scope was further expanded to Hebei, Henan, Shanxi and other regions, and the search for Chen Tingxian was widespread, but it still took a long time.
Finally, after many efforts to visit, the clue was locked in Lushi County. In 1985, when compiling the history of our army, the central authorities again sent people to look for Chen Tingxian, and finally found his family.
Hearing that Chen Tingxian himself had died, and learning that his last wish before he died was to join the party, Cheng Zihua sighed: "If you find him earlier, he will not suffer so much!" ”
Chen Tingxian's heroic image was recorded in the large-scale historical documentary "The Pioneers of the North", and his relatives and descendants also received preferential treatment and care from our party. History will not forget Chen Tingxian, nor will it forget the 3,000 heroic warriors he saved.